1. Field of the Invention
A certain aspect of the present invention relates to a billing management system, an image forming apparatus, a billing management apparatus, a billing information recording method, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mechanisms for enabling an image forming apparatus to operate in cooperation with an application running on a separate computer connected via a network to the image forming apparatus have been proposed in these years (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-10993).
Meanwhile, an image forming apparatus may include a billing function in addition to its inherent functions for copying, printing, faxing, and/or scanning. For example, an image forming apparatus may include counters for recording usage of the respective functions and a mechanism for increasing the counters according to the usage of the functions. In the case of a leased image forming apparatus installed in an office, for example, a service person of the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus regularly checks the counters and charges the office based on the values of the counters. As another example, there is an image forming apparatus with a coin box for charging a user on site for use of a function (e.g., copying).
Here, when an image forming apparatus operates in cooperation with a fee-based external application, charges for a service provided by the application are billed separately by the provider of the application. In other words, even if it seems like “one” service for a user, charges for a service provided by the image forming apparatus and charges for a service provided by the external application are separately billed to the user. This is particularly bothersome for the user if the charges are billed (e.g., invoices are sent) at different timings. Also, if the charges are on a pay-as-you-go basis, it is bothersome for the user to compare the actual usage of the services with that written on multiple invoices and determine whether the charges are correct.